It’s A Miracle!Do you believe in miracles? A simple question. But, for the vast majority of humanity who fall somewhere in between staunch believer and die-hard sceptics, the answer isnt. Veena Pradeep & Chethana Dinesh attempt the answers nonetheless.

Statues shed tears of blood, drink milk and open their eyes in benign blessing. Crosses of light inexplicably appear around many parts of the world. Sea water in a muddy creek turns sweet. The faithful flock in piety and amazement while sceptics pull out their hair in desperation, crying foul.

Do you believe in miracles? The question is as simple as that. But, for the vast majority of humanity who fall somewhere in between staunch believer and die-hard sceptics, the answer isn’t.

From time immemorial, there’s been a miracle for every season and every reason. If only our senses were open to perceive it! On a hot summer afternoon, sitting in a garden, under the cool shade of a peepal tree, soaking in the beautiful sight of colourful flowers, you close your eyes and take a deep breath, saying a silent prayer to the Almighty for a spell of rain. Voila! It actually starts raining. If this isn’t a miracle, what is?

For Tarun Cherian, a well-known spiritual healer, based in Bangalore, everything is a miracle. The blink of an eye, the blooming of a flower, the flight of a butterfly, the existence of the universe itself is no less miraculous than statues of gods and goddesses drinking milk or opening an eye.

Yet, we take the former for granted because our brains have understood the mystery behind these natural phenomena. Innumerable instances of mysterious things have been recorded, so nobody can discount the fact that miracles happen, he says. Tarun said:

“For example, auras around humans have been photographed, so nobody can deny their existence.

What we know about the universe is only the tip of an iceberg. We can just see that wee bit above the water, and a little bit below it. What lies underneath, unknown, is bigger than what most of us can even imagine.”

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On the other hand, for miracle buster Sanal Edamarakku, president of the Indian Rationalist’s Association based in Delhi which has been fighting for inculcating scientific temper among people and exposing superstition, blind belief, obscurantism and paranormal claims among other things, all miraculous events can be explained.

“There are three kinds of miracles,” he says. One is purely the outcome of people’s ignorance. Sanal quotes the example of a Sai Baba ke roti miracle doing the rounds in some parts of the country where you place a piece of roti in a container, add tea leaves, a little sugar and water and leave it covered for seven days in front of a Sai Baba idol. On the seventh day, a whole roti forms.

Sanal says this is because of the formation of something called the Manchurian algae. “Even if you were to place the same ingredients in front of your own photograph, the roti would form,” he says. At the height of the Ganesha milk-drinking episode, he had demonstrated how it happened, feeding a little coffee to a statue of Jawaharlal Nehru, and “this may sound blasphemous, but also a little beer to a statue of Gandhi,” he laughs. According to him, every instance of a miracle can be explained in scientific terms.

The second kind of miracles are special phenomena such as people suddenly speaking in the voice of a dead person. These are mental illnesses which any psychiatrist can explain, he says. The third kind are pure deceit where charlatans use sleight of hand to take advantage of people’s gullibility, like conjuring vibhuti out of the air, making things disappear or appear, etc. “Whenever a miracle takes place, there is an economic or social beneficiary,” says Sanal.

“Obviously some miracles are manufactured,” counters Tarun. “But where are there no scams? Science has clear biases, ignores inconvenient facts, and has its share of utter frauds.”

All of us may pooh-pooh the mass hysteria whipped up either by a statue of Sai Baba opening his eye or Ganesha idols drinking milk, but, deep down don’t we want to be a part of the crowd that firmly believes in such miracles? Says Prof C R Chandrashekar, Department of Psychiatry, Nimhans:

“All of us love miracles, irrespective of our community and religion. In fact, we long for them. Being born and brought up to believe that miracles do happen, we accept anything that’s even mildly suggestive of a miracle. Our lives revolve around expectations that miracles can happen.

For instance, take the recent case of the statue of Shirdi Sai Baba opening his eye in Bangalore. People thronged the place to witness it. That’s human weakness. At the same time, not all of them who went there believed in it. Most of them were driven to do it only out of curiosity. But, the very fact that they wanted to be a part of the whole episode illustrates how a human mind works. They went there out of expectations — they wanted to believe that the miracle had indeed happened.”

It’s true. Caught in the rigours of this world, all of us yearn for miracles in some form or the other. And again, who can doubt this longing for miracles when it’s being felt in various pockets all over the world?

There have been instances of miracles quoted in every religious text and in the history books of every civilization. Circles of Light, Crosses of Light, Healing Waters, Signs of Allah, The Holy Mother, Buddhist Miracles, Christ Encounters… the list can be endless.

An oft-quoted instance is that of the sighting of angelic warriors by Israeli soldiers in all of Israel’s wars. And in every war, there were reports from both sides of angelic intervention on Israel’s behalf. Though some rationalists attempted to term it as battle fatigue, believers didn’t buy the argument, considering that the angels were seen by both sides in the war.

Surprisingly, while many today believe in miracles, no modern historian fills his or her books with accounts of miraculous events. For, they are considered incredulous and nothing more than a case of collective hallucination. Experts in human psychology think otherwise.

“It is basic human tendency to desire the marvellous and the wondrous, to be deluded about them, to fabricate them, embellish them and to exaggerate them. It is a manifestation of our dislike for the mundane and the ordinary. Hence we lap up anything that is different from the ordinary,” explains Prof Chandrashekar.

However, there are many philosophers and anti-supernatural thinkers like David Hume (1711-1776) and Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677) who argue against this belief in miracles. While Hume terms it an act of faith and not of reason, Spinoza says that the belief in miracles and a commitment to modern scientific methodology are incompatible.

Another much widely neglected argument against miracles is put forth by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) in his book Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone. According to Kant, miracles never occur! In other words, miracles are theoretically possible but practically impossible.

Miracles are ruled out on scientific grounds too. According to the scientific understanding of the universe, no event can be termed rational unless its occurrence is regular and repeatable. Miracles are by nature not regular and repeatable and hence there is no scientific basis for the belief in miracles.“It’s true that there is no scientific basis to miracles. But, everything cannot be explained by science right?” argues Rachna Chabria, a consultant with a software firm. To support her argument, she narrates a true life experience. She questions:

“My father was a hale and hearty person. One fine morning, we found him dead in his sleep and the doctors attributed it to a massive heart attack. My mother was devastated. Everyday she reported of having his visions, prompting her to take her BP tablets. According to her, she distinctly saw him walking in the house with his familiar and recognisable steady gait. One such day, she told us she had decided to join him. We didn’t take her seriously as we thought it was just another of her emotional outpourings. But, the very same night, to our horror, she too passed away peacefully in her sleep. How do you explain this?”

“Anything we do with intensity can create miracles. When we understand it, it forms the basis of life, when it surprises us, we call it a miracle,” says Tarun.

Miracles are anything that’s beyond our realm of understanding. Nevertheless, they help us get on with our lives with hope. “They are all around us. We just have to ask the universe for it. I have prayed for miracles and they have happened. The universe is very kind. It just gives all that you ask for. You may be gripped by a serious problem and not know how to get out of it. You hope against hope for it to be resolved by itself and it does! That’s a miracle,” says renowned tarot card reader Krishna Nath Malhotra.

A miracle definitely helps ordinary mortals like us to live on, with the fond hope that a miracle will very soon put an end to the suffering in the world.

“About three decades ago, I went with some friends to Satya Sai Baba, hoping to be able to rid myself off a consistently present nervous strain, and fear of living in this world. I was not disappointed, as he did rid me of that, plus a few other disturbing samskaras lurking within my being which I wasn’t even aware of. That was a true miracle for me! I mean, to be able to prevail upon the mind and transform it so completely without appearing to be doing so is a feat worthy of resting foremost in the annals of miracle workings.

“I had also on the same trip witnessed a healing by him on a boy who was afflicted with a disease, which had left him deformed from neck to toe. When Sai Baba whispered something into his ear he dashed off, unaided towards his room, a distance of 15 metres, in a split second, and turned contorted again. A few hours later, I saw this boy walking about awkwardly but proudly around, with the most radiant smile upon his face, unaided, watched by his ecstatic mother! He was not even able to stand up on his own, prior to Sai Baba’s interaction with him, until a few hours earlier! That was the other miracle I witnessed. This is for those who might want to rubbish my earlier claim of my miracle as a psychological abberation or fluke!”

Despite many miracles being explained away by rationalists and scientists, the media continues to report on strange events and happenings around the world and otherwise rational human beings continue to believe in them. “Now miracles happen most when we are desperate or troubled. And indeed we are in trouble today with an imminent collapse of the environment, and a global economy powered by skinny energy resources. Since man’s very survival is threatened, the stakes are raised. Our desperation unleashes immense psychic force, and so miracles and psychic gifts are far easier to receive today than in any point in our history,” says Tarun.

Both miracle-seekers and miracle busters will agree on one thing, however. Miracles are but extensions of one’s belief. You believe and you will be blessed by an experience. You don’t believe and you can explain the experience away. Every now and then, you read newspaper reports of potatoes or eggplants sporting the image of gods. Now, if you’re religious and a believer in miracles you’ll see in these divine vegetables a sign and probably worship them, but if you are a rationalist you’ll just chop that freak vegetable into your curry!

“My acts are the foundations on which I am building my work, the task for which I have come. All the miraculous acts which you observe are to be interpreted so.” – Sathya Sai Baba

Sathya Sai Speaks:
“The optical sense cannot visualize the truth. It gives only false and fogged information. For example, there are many who observe my actions and start declaring that my nature is such and such. They are unable to gauge the sanctity, the majesty, and the eternal reality that is me. The power of Sai is limitless; It manifests for ever. All forms of ‘power’ are resident in this Sai palm.

But those who profess to have understood me, the scholars, the yogis, the pundits, the jnanis, all of them are aware only of the least important, the casual external manifestation of an infinitesimal part of that power, namely, the “miracles”! They have not desired to contact the source of all power and all wisdom that is available . This has been the case in all ages. People may be very near (physically) to the Avathar, but they live out their lives unaware of their fortune; they exaggerate the role of miracles, which are as trivial, when compared to my glory and majesty, as a mosquito is in size and strength to the elephant upon which it squats. Therefore, when you speak about these ‘miracles,’ I laugh within myself out of pity that you allow yourself so easily to lose the precious awareness of my reality.

My power is immeasurable; My truth is inexplicable, unfathomable. I am announcing this about me, for the need has arisen. But what I am doing now is only the gift of a ‘visiting card!’ Let me tell you that emphatic declarations of the truth by Avathars were made so clearly and so unmistakably only by Krishna. In spite of the declaration, you will notice in the career of the same Krishna that he underwent defeat in his efforts and endeavors, on a few occasions; you must also note that those defeats too were part of the drama that he had planned and that he himself directed. For example, when many kings pleaded with him to avert the war with the Kauravas, he confessed that his mission to the Kaurava Court for ensuring peace had ‘failed’! But, he had not willed that it should succeed! He had decided that war would be waged! His mission was intended to publish the greed and iniquity of the Kauravas and to condemn them before the whole world.

Now, I must tell you that, during this Sai Avathar, there is no place for even such ‘drama’ with scenes of failures and defeats! What I will, must take place; what I plan must succeed. I am Truth; and Truth has no need to hesitate, or fear, or bend.

‘Willing’ is superfluous for me. For my grace is ever available to devotees who have steady love and faith. Since I move freely among them, talking and singing, even intellectuals are unable to grasp my truth, my power, my glory, or my real task as Avathar. I can solve any problem however knotty. I am beyond the reach of the most intensive enquiry and the most meticulous measurement. Only those who have recognized my love and experienced that love can assert that they have glimpsed my reality. For the path of Love is the royal road that leads mankind to me.

Do not attempt to know me through the external eyes. When you go to a temple and stand before the image of God, you pray with closed eyes, don’t you? Why? Because you feel that the inner eye of wisdom alone can reveal Him to you. Therefore, do not crave from me trivial material objects; but, crave for me, and you will be rewarded. Not that you should not receive whatever objects I give as sign of grace out of the fullness of Love.

I shall tell you why I give these rings, talismans, rosaries etc. It is to signalize the bond between me and those to whom they are given. When calamity befalls them, the article comes to me in a flash and returns in a flash taking from me the remedial grace of protection. That Grace is available to all who call on me in any name or form, not merely to those who wear these gifts. Love is the bond that wins grace.

You elaborate in your lectures the unique powers of Sai, the incidents that are described as miracles in books written about Me by some persons. But I request you not to attach importance to these. Do not exaggerate their significance, the most significant and important power is, let Me tell you, my Prema (Love) and My Sahana, (fortitude). I may turn the sky into earth or earth into sky but that is not the sign of Divine Might. It is the Prema, effective, universal, ever-present, that is the unique sign. When you attempt to cultivate and propagate this Love and this Fortitude, trouble and travail will clog your steps. You must welcome them, for without them, the best in you cannot be drawn out.

I use My Shakti (power) to attract people and to draw them towards the Godward path. These miracles are merely baits with which I lure them towards Me. Once their faith is firmly established, they begin to look beyond the miracles and slowly start stretching their hands out for what I have really come to give- Knowledge and Bliss.”

There can be no limit for Sai Power, no hindrance, no opposition or obstacle. You may believe it or you may not, but, Sai Power can transform earth into sky, the sky into earth. only there is no call for that transformation. This Divine behaviour is far distinct from the mean exhibitionistic tricks of the inferior powers. This is spontaneous manifestation, not those that are calculated to collect customers and exploit the ignorant.

You may infer from what you call my miracles that I am causing them to attract and attach you to me and me alone. They are not intended to demonstrate or publicize; they are merely spontaneous and concomitant proofs of divine majesty .

This Sathya Sai Incarnation is one where you see the full manifestation and exercise of all the sixteen attributes of a Poorna Avatar. This happened only once before, at the time of Krishna Avatar. I am the Embodiment of Shiva and Shakti, that is Universal Consciousness and Universal Energy. And I show evidences of both to the fullest and maximum extent.

Do not crave from me trivial material objects: but crave for Me, and you would be rewarded. Not that you should not receive whatever objects I give as signs of grace out of the fullness of love. I shall tell you why I give these rings, talismans, rosaries, etc. It is to mark the bond between me and those to whom they are given. When calamity befalls them, the article comes to me in a flash and returns in a flash, taking from me the remedial grace of protection. That grace available to all who call on me in any Name or Form, not merely to those who wear these gifts.

Love is the bond that wins grace. My miracles are part of the unlimited power of God and are in no sense the product of yogic powers which are acquired. They are natural, uncontrived. There are no invisible beings helping me. My divine will bring the object in a moment. I am everywhere.”

Select Quote:

“I am determined to correct you only after informing you of my credentials. That is why I am now and then announcing my nature by means of miracles; that is, acts which are beyond human capacity and human understanding.”

The Miracle Of Sathya Sai Baba’s Vibuthi
When I read that this month’s theme is Sai Miracles, I could not resist writing my own experiences of Swamy’s Leela, especially, Vibhuti Leela.

It was December 1997 Second Saturday, the day of our Sri Satya Sai Bhajan Mandali’s Annual day. We started our function with Omkaram at 4.30 am and followed by Laksharchana, Shodachopachara Puja, Bhajan, Sathsang and Narayana Seva. We were through with all the programs and as the preparations for Narayana Seva was not complete we were sitting out side the premises of the clubhouse where the function was going on.

Meanwhile, one of the devotees of our campus, Dr. D. Chaudhary came exited and told my husband that Swamy just visited his residence. We all inquired how it happened. He explained ” I went to my residence with Raja Bhai, (another staunch devotee of our place) to quench his thirst. Suddenly we experienced smell of Swami’s Vibhuti. Raja Bhai started yelling Swami has come! Swami has come! He started singing Bhajan and searched the house.

As he was doing so we traced the smell of Vibhuti to a Swami’s Photograph in our pooja alter. The whole photograph was covered with Vibhuti. We lighted the incense stick and came to inform you all”. We all went running to see the first experience of Swami’s Vibhuti miracle. From the formation of the Vibhuti, Raja bhai explained that Sai had visited us as Radhakrishna. There were imprints of Bhagawan’s feet also in that room. The sight was so fantastic. I read many a time about this and was thrilled to see personally the Vibhuti miracle. We are blessed.

In 1999, again we are fortunate to witness another two miracles of the same at Keonjhar, a town of Orissa, which is situated about 150 km from Cuttack. One morning, One Scientist from Bhubaneswar, who was at CRRI, Cuttack came and told us that Vibhuti miracle has happened at Keonjhar a day before and it was more fantastic than the one which occurred earlier at Cuttack.

We started at Cuttack immediately and reached Keonjhar traveling on a road which lost its originality. It can be said that it was a path of gravel only. We did not feel any exhaustion since Bhagawan Baba blessed us. As we reached the place, it was not very difficult to trace the blessed house.

In the first house, Vibhuti in huge quantities was showered the whole house. Even their pet dog, was found with a quoting of Vibhuti. Large number of devotees from far and wide places visited the house. Here also, Baba’s footprints were seen. We were told that many devotees placed photographs of they’re chosen deities in the pooja room and honey from some photographs, ghee from some photographs were oozing out. Luckily, I always carry Bhagawan’s photograph in my vanity bag. I placed that in the altar, prayed and returned to witness the second miracle.

The second miracle was more fascinating and interesting. Every Thursday, the inmates of the house perform Bhajan and Arati. Since a month prior to this miracle, Baba’s photograph in the altar, which was placed on the Simhasan, used to move around the house especially during the Bhajan time. That photograph was being spotted in the neighboring hall during the Bhajan along with other photographs which were placed for the purpose, move out and go to kitchen some times, go and occupy it’s own position in the altar. Some times the water which was placed in a glass near the Simhasan used to be half full.

The Vibhuti Leela in this house was more convincing that Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is Siva- Shakti Avatar. It was because, along with huge quantity of Vibhuti, Vermilion (Kum Kum) also was splashed on the Photographs of Sri Shiridi Baba, Sri Sathya Sai Baba and other photographs.

After witnessing the Miracles, we were returning home and while coming back and two back tires got punctured. Because Swami is with us always, even though the traffic on that route is thin, and it was late, there was shop just nearby to attend to us. We got the work done and reached home at about 1-00 am. In the next morning, when my husband went to see how the car is, he was astonished to see that all the four tiers were flat. I don’t know how we could reach home?

Next day, we received a phone call from the devotee where we placed Swami’s photograph, that ghee oozed out from the photograph and they have sent it to us through our common friend. In another two days we received the photograph and we could see the oily markings on the photograph and sweet smell was still persisting.

This is not a fiction or imagination it is a real happening. Bhagawan Sri Satya Sai’s miracles cannot be comprehended. As he says, no one can know his real nature.

Numerous miracles, miracle pictures and pictures of miracles have been published on the internet in relation to the famous Indian Guru, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, of Puttaparthi, India. These “miracle pictures” were taken all around the world where manifestations and materializations typically occur.